Monthly Archives: December 2014

Red rice for breakfast!

Ever since The Yunnan Cookbook by Annabel Jackson and Linda Chia arrived on my desk and in my kitchen, I have been massively inspired!

The diversity of flavours, the freshness, the different ethnic groups and their foodways, as well as the simplicity of most recipes: or maybe its just my season of embracing Asian food which happens to me regularly, coming around on the guitar like a familiar beloved refrain. But with Asian food, as familiar as it might be, its always unfamiliar too. With new dishes and surprises layered atop old favourites. For instance, right now I’m big into preserving and pickling, and I’m ALWAYS into discovering a NEW hot sauce. Thats why you’ll find me, in about ten minutes, pounding a LOT of garlic with some fresh red chillies, salt, oil and black chinese vinegar. If its as wonderful as I suspect it will be, i’ll  take a photo and share the exact amounts.

But meanwhile, before I do anything else, I’m having breakfast.

To the cold, cooked red rice–a rice that shares qualities of both wild rice AND glutinous black rice/forbidden rice, I added some finely diced cucumber, a small spoonful of homemade chile oil, a little finely chopped ginger and a lot of chopped green/spring onions. Oh, and soy sauce to taste, and s sprinkling of freshly toasted and ground szechuan peppercorns. Was it wonderful? yes: earthy, spicy, exotic and comfortingly familiar all at once.Looking through The Yunnan Cookbook I found a recipe for red glutinous rice and, as I didn’t have that but DID happen to have already cooked red rice from the Camargue, I took inspiration:

Exact amounts don’t matter: per person allow about a cup of rice or a little bit less, and maybe 1/4 cucumber; toss with chopped ginger and green onions, say 1-2 spring/green onions and 1/4 teaspoon grated ginger, then like I say: soy sauce and toasted, ground, Szechuan peppercorns to taste.

Then, because I promised, and also because I have a bowl of fresh red not too hot chile peppers, I whipped up a relish that the authors call chutney: a fresh, fragrant mixture of garlic and chillies.

Yunnan Chilli Chutney

Yunnan Chilli Chutney

This is adapted because all chillies have different heat level: I used 4 that were fairly hot and fleshy and one that is larger, not terribly hot at all: all were juicy and flavourful.

• 4 medium red chillies, diced
• 1 large mild red chile, diced
• 6-8 garlic cloves, roughly sliced
• 1 teaspoon oil of choice (I used olive)
• 1 teaspoon Chinese black vinegar
• 1/4-1/2 teaspoon salt or to taste

Whirl the chillies, garlic, oil, vinegar and salt together until it forms a fluffy, bright red, light mixture. Taste for seasoning.

The authors recommend adding chopped mint for a Northern Yunnan variation, or chopped coriander/cilantro for the southern Yunnanese version; I didn’t have either but do have a forest of growing laksa leaf/Vietnamese coriander leaf/rau ram leaves, so scattered some of these instead: deeeelish.

Having the red chilli chutney–really, little more than a paste of chillies and garlic–in wonderful: i can’t believe how many different things it is delicious with. The first day it is too fiery to eat more than a little dab, but as the days went on, it mellowed out and I found myself spooning it onto all sorts of things such as the aforementioned red rice salad.

My breakfast all week has been leftover steamed rice, a soft-yolked fried egg, a sprinkling of herbs and a spoonful of the red chutney.

Meanwhile, I experimented. After a few tries using olive oil I made a chutney using sesame oil: darker in colour, it was darker in flavour too. It was GOOD, make no mistake, but not as bright. I also thought: how would making a milder pepper sauce be with this base of chilli chutney, so, getting our my stick blender I whirled together a large jarred roasted red pepper–the kind that has a little tang from a bit of vinegar but isn’t pickled…..anyhow: in the picture at the left you will see the jar of peppers, the small bowl of sesame-chile chutney, and the big bowl of…..whirled together roasted red pepper and chutney which bizarrely, and surprisingly, tasted just like SIRACHA! go and know!

Meanwhile, I made lunch: vegetable chowder with miso: extraordinarily good, with a spoonful of the red chilli chutney.

Vegetable Miso Chowder with Red Chilli Chutney

Vegetable Miso Chowder with Red Chilli Chutney

Serves 2 big bowls

• 1/2 carrot, sliced thinly
• 1 small to medium turnip, cut into halves then sliced into half-moon shapes
• 10-12 mushrooms, thinly sliced
• handful of broccoli rabe or other green vegetable such as romano beans, asparagus, cut into bite sized pieces
• 1 litre/6 cups  hot water (plus several sachets of powdered dashi) or chicken/vegetable stock/broth
• 6-8 green/spring onions, thinly sliced
• Chunk of tofu, cut into small pieces, as desired: I used about 8 ounces
• If you have any leftover chicken or other protein you can add that in addition or instead of the tofu
• 3-4 tablespoons white miso
• Yunnan Red Chilli Chutney to taste

I accidentally made Siracha!

Combine carrot, turnip and mushrooms in a saucepan with the liquid and bring to the boil; bring to boil and cook over high heat about 5 minutes, then add the green vegetable of choice: broccoli, broccoli rabe, green beans, asparagus, your choice.  If using dashi, sprinkle it in after the vegetables are cooked. Stir in the green/spring onions and add the tofu and, if you are using, any other bits of protein you might like to include.

Stir the miso in a small bowl with a few spoonfuls of the hot broth, and when it is smooth, stir it back into the pot. Heat it through for the miso to thicken but do not let it boil or it can damage the delicate taste of the miso.

Into each bowl place as much of the chilli chutney as desired, then ladle in the hot miso vegetable soup.